


What Could Have Been

by phobphil



Series: 10 Prompts Per Pairing [4]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-21
Packaged: 2017-12-20 23:17:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/893050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phobphil/pseuds/phobphil
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Titans are the enemies no matter who they are.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Could Have Been

**Author's Note:**

> 01- Angst

She stares at him through the bars of the underground cell they have her chained into, looks at the new shiny medals on a long red sash he wears in his uniform now, the ones he got for helping kill the ones responsible for the attack on Wall Maria 5 years ago. At least, that’s what her guards told her when she woke up from her crystallized state. _You’re next_ , they spat at her. _Figured as much_ , she thought, but that was already two months ago. She didn’t know, didn’t want to know, what was taking them so long. Her guards hadn’t been of any help at all either, not that she had asked them anything, but their threats gave her no insight as to what was happening above ground. _You’ll pay for what you did_ , they said over and over and over, sometimes mixed in other insults, but never creatively.  
  
Eren’s voice breaks through her thoughts. He’s looking at her harder now, expecting an answer. She doesn’t ask him to repeat what he said, just stares.

He breaks eye contact first, looks down at the floor- conflicted? “Why?" she hears him clearly this time.  
  
 _Why what?_ , she almost feels like asking. _Why did I kill them, your comrades? Why was I trying to kidnap you? Why_ what _Eren?_

She doesn’t think she actually let her thoughts out but Eren just looks at her and the look on his eyes, it looks like pity, and it annoys her beyond belief. He should be angry. W _hy isn’t he shouting about killing me? I’m a titan, did he already forget he wanted to eradicate them all?_  
  
"Annie," Eren says softly, barely above a whisper but her ears caught it well enough, “why did you teach me how to fight?"  
  
She flinches, really there’s no reason to deny, and looks at him wide eyed (she didn’t manage to completely control her expressions, not when she wasn’t expecting _that_ ). “Why- why would you ask that?" _of all things why would you ask that?_  
  
He snorts, but it sounds defeated to her ears. “Why _did_ I ask that?" he says, and Annie feels it’s directed at himself instead of her. He looks back at her for a second before he turns and calls the guards back in. “The beheading is tomorrow morning," he tells her before being escorted out.  
  
She wants to call out to him but bites the need down.  
  
New guards take the positions of the older ones, she notices afterwards. She doesn’t pay much thought to them, if they’re going to kill her tomorrow it’d make sense they’d tighten their security.  
  
She sighs. _Why that question?_ , she wonders as she looks down at the cold ground. Of everything, why that? “Guess it doesn’t matter anymore," she whispers to herself, softly enough for the guards not to notice.  
  
-  
  
They come for her early in the morning, not to long after she wakes up, wrap her head in a dark cloth, place more chain and shackles while releasing her form the ones holding her down to the cell. “Not a word, and no funny business either, you try to escape and you’ll lose your head. Just walk when we tell you to walk, and pay attention when we warn you about stairs." she’s told.  
  
The trip isn’t long, she wasn’t really expecting it to be, but it’s awfully quiet too. She’d also been expecting an big audience.  
  
They walk her up a platform and stop her after a few steps. When they remove the cloth from her head she closes her eyes quickly, to protect her eyes from the pain of the sudden light. When she starts to slowly blink them open she’s taken aback.  “E-Eren?"  
  
He stands in front of her, out of uniform, wearing plain clothes and no red sash in sight. In fact, he has shackles around his hands and feet as well. “Hey Annie," he says calmly.  
  
"What-" she blurts out before she’s being pushed to the side and down to her knees. She turns her head and watches as they push him down next to her as well. Watches as he doesn’t put up a fight. _What are you doing here? Why you?_ she wants to ask.  
  
He twists his head to the side and looks at her. “Titans are enemies no matter who they are, Annie." He says, it’s then she realizes she voiced her thoughts.  
  
"No," she says before realizing it but doesn’t stop, wont stop even when she’s told to be quiet by the guards locking them tightly to the floor of the platform, “Not you, you’re useful to them, you’re on their side."  
  
Eren smiles at her, it annoys her, how honest it is. “You never answered my question you know." he says facing forward once more when the first shouts for the beheading are given.  
  
For the first time Annie faces the crowd in front of her, a handful of high ranking officers she thinks, and a couple of nobles by the looks of their clothes, the tight looking ones they barely fit into. She notices that no one from the 104th is there, not Mikasa or Armin who’d she’d figure would be the most against this. _No_ , she thinks, _that’s why they aren’t here._  
  
"-The beheading of the female type titan and Eren Yaegar, as mandated by the king himself-" She listens to the soldier giving the announcement, the one standing below the platform and in front of everyone in the audience, only far enough to realize they aren’t going to even mention her name.  
  
"I never did, did I?" she says and out of the corner of her eyes she sees him nod.  
  
The sounds of the trumpets starts. Annie hears, feels, the shuffling of soldiers next to them. She sees the ends of the blades as they cross them over her shoulders, ready for a swift and clean stroke at the base of her neck before they pull the blades above her head. Above their heads.  
  
"I guess I just felt that-" she says closing her eyes, remembering those times.  
  
"Blades ready! At the shot!"  
  
"-if it was you it was alright."

"I see."

The trigger is pulled.

  
-

It’s a small gun, the blast itself is loud but not loud enough to cover the sound of two heads falling down into the ground.


End file.
